351
Iuly the 10 1679
m
r. Henshaw
the vice pres
t. tooke the chair.
m
r. Lambs Propo
salls about two coele
stiall Hemi
spheres were
shewn, but when it was vnder
stood that they were not
alteredRectifyed by the Late
st obseruations of m
r Heuelius they were neg
=lected as imperfect. Iohannus Valentines Scheid Argutoraten
sis was here & De
sired
/to Receiue the c
omands of the society being suddenly returning home./
The minutes of the 3
d of Iuly were Read. & m
r Hooke was De
sired to
examine Pi
so about the coco nut. S
r. Ionas more said that
the indians v
sed to bore a hole in the palm tree & to rowle
vp a Leaf of the tree & stick it into the hole for a spout.
for it to Run by into a cup made of the shell of its own nutt
the vse to tap them in the morning before the sun Ri
sing -
m
r. Henshaw said that the palm that yealdeth wine is only in the
ea
st Indies where they drink noe other. He al
so mentiond the
way they v
sed to clime vp the palm tree by the help of a
couple of short ropes the one tyed to their feet the other about
their armes, by the succe
ssiue
of slyding vp of w
ch. they will Clim
to the top of the smoothe
st & streighte
st tree
S
r. Io: Hoskins noted that there was one palm /in Guinny/ the fruit whereof
yealded good store of oyle v
sed in tho
se ountrys in
steed of Butter
though not soe pleasant to the Europeans.
It was further noted that the
. . . wine of the palm will with keep
ing turne to very good vinagre, & being boyled presently it yealds
a good suger. and being fermented it makes a very good wine
m
r. Pappin now produced a peice of the tortoy
sshell (which he shewd the
Last meeting soft like wet tanned Leather) now reduced againe to its
former hardne
sse & transparency & retaining the po
sture it had been
put into when soft. this was suppo
sed might be very v
sefull for ma
ny mechanicall works. and ^ /if/ the same effect al
so vpon horn
if it could be
done, /it/ was beleiued would be very acceptable to Diuers mechanicks.
vpon this seuerall Di
scourses were occa
siond about tanned Leather and
itwas concluded /mr Hooke vrged/ that the tanning of Leather consi
sted only in the clean fetch
ing out of the Glutinou
se part of the skin &
the Leauing the fibrous part
which was the reason why skins not well tanned being wett & dryed againe -
they become stiff & hard
where the remaining gummou
se parts glewing
the fibers together. whereas tanned Leather being wett and againe Dryd
become Limber & supple as cloth it hauing noe gummous part Left .
herevpon Diuers Di
scourses were occa
sioned about the seuerall ways of tan
ning of Leather. S
r. Iohn Hoskins mentiond the way that the Indians
in virginia & the northern parts of America v
se to Dre
sse their skins
Ref: CELL/RS/HF_353 © Centre for Editing Lives and Letters
